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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25056586">Easy Revenge</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoshizora/pseuds/yoshizora'>yoshizora</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Xenoblade Chronicles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Rewrite, Epilogue: Xenoblade Chronicles Future Connected</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 00:41:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,657</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25056586</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoshizora/pseuds/yoshizora</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Melia, Tyrea, and their final confrontation with Gael'gar.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Melia Antiqua &amp; Tyrea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Easy Revenge</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>like many others, i wasn't entirely satisfied with the story writing for FC. i really think they missed an opportunity to flesh out Tyrea even more with the subtle parallels between her and Gael'gar.</p><p>Shulk, Kino, and Nene aren't here because i don't think they're particularly relevant to the Gael'gar narrative, and i was also lazy and didn't wanna account for 3 extra characters in the scene. assume they're busy with another sidequest back in Gran Dell or something. yeah!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In the end, Tyrea wasn’t even quite certain where her loyalties truly lied.</p><p><em>Everyone has their own beliefs. And what they believe is their own choice.</em> It was never her choice though, not really, no matter how much she would try to convince herself otherwise. Admitting so would only be an admission of her own helplessness. Weakness. A notable lack of willpower, the mark of a feeble mind, unable to think for herself and do anything about it. It’s different now.</p><p>She’s different, now.</p><p>But in reality, she’s no different from the man ranting and raving about bloodlines and birthrights, of the future of their people and of the sins of their ancestors. Gael’gar had led them here to kill Melia, that much was obvious. The fight was swift and brutal enough. He’s outnumbered and backed against the edge of the cape now, but the cornered animal lashes out the hardest.</p><p>“Ah, those weapons… I remember those weapons,” Gael’gar wheezes, his attention briefly turned to the dual blades Tyrea wields.</p><p>“Enough talking! Melia, we must—“</p><p>“What must we do, exactly?” Melia’s rage had simmered to contempt the moment Gael’gar went down. It’d be like being furious at a helpless child. There’s no point nor honor in kicking a man who can no longer fight. “I will not claim the role of executioner. Gael’gar… I had offered you mercy once, and I will offer it again. Traitor though you may be… you are still a High Entia. In truth, we are hardly any different, you and I. It is doubtful we will ever reach an understanding, but…”</p><p>Tyrea’s blood boils.</p><p>“You <em>pity</em> me, is that it!” His laughter is pitched. “I reject your sympathy! You are dead to me, Melia Antiqua, do you hear my words?! You are dead to me!”</p><p>“What happened to you, Gael’gar?” Melia takes no steps forward, no hand offered. Is this the right thing to do? Is sparing this madman the noble choice when he had intended to destroy so much for the sake of a delusional future? His rantings about <em>bloodlines</em> and <em>commingling</em> is more than enough to see he’s beyond help. “What has caused you to become like this?”</p><p>It’s not their place to decide on a verdict, least of all Tyrea’s. Her blood boils, only with the recognition of a truth she’d refused to acknowledge, ever since that day Gael’gar attacked the laboratory and declared those of pureblood to be unfit for the new world.</p><p>Ironically, he probably believes her to be one of those pureblooded High Entia. Tyrea had never bothered correcting him.</p><p>“She who wields the blades of the Bionite Order should be the one to tell that story.” He bitterly laughs and spits to the side. “That you keep a rabid hound by your side is proof enough that you are not meant to lead the High Entia.”</p><p>“I beg your pardon?!”</p><p>“Watch your words, scum!” Tyrea places herself between Melia and Gael’gar, teeth bared. “What would you know of ruling and birthrights? Or of our future, for that matter?! And you have the nerve to spout your dogma as if it’s law!”</p><p>“That makes you,” Gael’gar opens his eyes, mouth splitting into a curled grin. “A hypocrite.”</p><p>There is no compassion nor justice in the Bionite Order. There is only faith, and <em>Zanza.</em></p><p>“Tyrea…?”</p><p>But she’s no longer a part of that.</p><p>“I’m not the only one who sought an upheaval,” Grael’gar says, seething. He pushes himself up to his feet, the tip of his sword sinking into the earth as he leans upon it. “How many of my brothers and sisters did you kill, hound of the Bionite Order? How much of our commingled blood did you spill with those very weapons you wield now?”</p><p>“—Do not answer him, Tyrea.”</p><p>“I wasn’t planning on it.”</p><p>But she should. She’s obligated to bare the ugly truth to Melia. Isn’t she?</p><p>“I see,” Melia says, gazing down upon Gael’gar. He’d collapsed to his knees again, unable to support himself. “This is your vengeance, then. Vengeance upon those who inflicted those cruelties upon you.”</p><p>“My pain and suffering was never justified! I thought you of all people would understand that!”</p><p>“I do understand… but this is not the answer. You’ve become no better than those zealots who proclaimed purebloods to be the true future of the High Entia. Deciding who has the right to live by bloodline alone is nobody’s privilege, Gael’gar. Don’t you see that?”</p><p>“No— I am not, I am <em>nothing</em> like them—“</p><p>Tyrea’s ears are ringing. All the noises around her are deafening and muffled, and so sharp all at once. The rustling of that cold midnight breeze passing through the grass and trees. The chirping of insects singing their chorus. Gael’gar shouting and crying and pounding his fists against the ground. She feels it, striking at her core.</p><p>This is a portrait.</p><p>She sees herself, spitting at the names of Homs and blindly shouting vile filth. That was her choice to believe. The Bionite Order merely urged her along that path, cast deep within the cold comforts of Yumea’s never-ending shadow. Her beliefs were her own, shaped and moulded and honed to become fangs serving those who prepared for the Bionis' feast. Decades of… believing in…</p><p>“Tyrea? What’s the matter with you?”</p><p>She blinks. Looks up. Melia is standing in front of her, back foolishly exposed.</p><p>“Melia! You idiot!”</p><p>Without thinking, Tyrea shoves her aside just as Gael’gar lunges.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Another portrait.</p><p>This one is of herself, eyes dim and mouth twisted in final moments of righteous fury, her body no longer warm. Food for the Bionis, food for Lord Zanza. That’s how it’s supposed to go. This is how it is meant to be. Those who choose to believe otherwise do not so of their own volition, because free will is a lie made up to comfort those who are scared of the idea of Gods.</p><p>That’s always been wrong.</p><p>Her blade, searing hot with ether, pierces through Gael’gar’s chest like butter. He slumps against her, his mouth half-open in… shock? Anger? A choked sound gurgles in his throat. His breath is foul as he utters his final words, whispered against her ear.</p><p>
  <em>“You filthy cur.”</em>
</p><p>Tyrea unceremoniously pushes him away; he falls off her blade and onto the ground, sprawled like he picked a spot to gaze up at the sky and count clouds. Melia is breathing too fast and too loudly, clutching her chest. Oh, she’d fallen to the ground as well. Maybe Tyrea shouldn’t have shoved her so hard.</p><p>“… His body won’t become ether,” Tyrea says. “Something changed when the Bionis collapsed. I’ve seen the bodies of those who had fallen against the Fogbeasts and Fog King— they rot, and are swallowed by the earth. He’ll either have to be buried or thrown into the sea.”</p><p>Melia says nothing, but she accepts the hand that Tyrea offers and allows her to pull her up to her feet. Her legs aren’t unsteady, at least. She stares at Gael’gar, wide-eyed, neither fearful nor disgusted.</p><p>“… Are you alright, Tyrea?”</p><p>“I kill a man and your first thought is to ask if <em>I’m</em> alright? Did you hit your head when you fell, Melia?”</p><p>“But….”</p><p>“You don’t need to get your hands dirty. I’ll dispose of him.”</p><p>Melia finds no reason to argue with that.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Don’t tell Teelan. Please.” She can't stop her voice from trembling. “He doesn’t know anything about my past with the Bionite Order. I think… it would break him. He trusts me, Melia. He can’t know of all the things I’ve said and done.”</p><p>“You will be the one to tell him. One day, when both you and Teelan are ready. And if that day never comes to pass, then so be it— your bond stands true, testament to your own free will. Tyrea… you have come so far.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>They don’t speak of it any more, even though it’s eating away at both of them and Tyrea can’t get the thought of her body dissipating into the God’s bloodstream out of her mind. Which is insane, frankly, because there are no more Gods (Shulk said so) and no more cult devoted to preparing a banquet for their God. A part of her had died a long, long time ago, she thinks. Maybe that’s the only truth to come out of her time spent serving the Bionite Order.</p><p>If Gael’gar had been targeted by the Order, would things be any different now? Or would someone else have taken that mantle for the purposes of vengeance?</p><p>“I should thank you for saving my life,” Melia says, quiet now. They buried Gael’gar and that was the end of it.</p><p>“<em>You</em> should have been more careful. What were you thinking, turning your back to him? I’ve told you before that you can’t be so careless. Not only for your own sake, but for the future of our people.” For the sake of a dream, of a new era. Tyrea can’t actually be angry, not right now.</p><p>Melia places a hand on her back. She’s warm.</p><p>This is her own choice to believe, after years of sitting blindly in the dark. She feels nothing for Gael’gar. Perhaps he had died a long time ago, too.</p><p>“There was… a peculiar look on your face, which I had ever seen before. I was worried. That was why I had been briefly distracted.” Melia pauses. “Why did you want to come out here with me in the first place? I would have thought your priorities would lie with defending Gran Dell and researching the Telethia.”</p><p>Because… of her own beliefs. It wasn’t satisfying at all. The old her would have reveled in this, but she feels nothing of that sort. Gael’gar will be the last person she ever kills, she decides. None of it was worth the blood.</p><p>Still, he tried to kill Melia and Teelan.</p><p>“It was easy revenge.”</p>
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